I confess, I'd been looking at other bikes. Looking for Ridley Damocleses and Look 585s on clearance, casting curious gazes at Madone 5s and Tarmac Pros, and even took a Wilier Izoard out for a test ride. I liked that one a lot, but not $3800 worth.

Then I came across a low-mileage Giant TCR C0 on ebay. The fit caught my eye, M/L with 175mm cranks--hey, that's me. So for the hell of it I threw in a bid, went to work, and didn't think much about it until after supper. Uh-huh, it's mine.

So it's time to make some room in the garage. Anyone interested in a '79 Gios or a Felt F5C?

But changing from lightweight ally to C.F.Did not initially give me the ride I was expecting. It was light and responded to pedal pressure with ease- As for hill climbing- it was a dream.

But I did have a problem that took a while to sort out. Hit a bit of rough black stuff or run over a manhole cover and it was a bit "Skittish". The jarring it sent up through the bars was a bit harsh aswell. Tried changing tyre pressures and that did not work and even changed the tyres to my normal Michelin PR2's from another bike. It still jumped a bit. Then changed to the Ultegra wheels and tyres I had on Boreas- that work fine- and no improvement. As a final try- I put on the Training wheels -36 spoke with x2 lacing and finally was getting somewhere. The radially spoked Ultegras and Mavic Aksiums were just too harsh for the frame. It cured the skittishness at higher speeds and rough roads and manhole covers no longer affected it. It still sails up hills- but I am a bit wary of fast descents.

The Flex in the training wheels improved the ride no end and dropping the pressures a bit helps aswell.

So spend a bit of time to set the bike up for you and you will have a fantastic ride. Bike of choice for me is now the TCR- but Boreas does take a lot of beating still.

Presume yours is an 07 model. Mine was a frame build up and mainly 105 components.

This bike climbs hills so well that I have now set it up with a triple for the Mountains. That hill climbing ability of this thing still surprises me. Must be the stiffness of the frame- that also caused the skittishness- but point it uphill- turn the pedals and it goes.

Attachments are of when I got it and how it has evolved now.And I know the tyres look terrible- but I can't wear them out.